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H R KEITHLEY COMBINED NAIL JOINT AND BOND.

. Patented Mar. 29, 1898.

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UNITED STATES PATENT QEEICE.,

HERBERT R. KEITH'LEY, 0E NEW YORK, N. Y.

COMBINED ARAIL JOINT AND BOND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.v 601,263, `dated March 29, 1898. I

Application filed January 3, 1898. Serial No. 66 5,367. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.:

Beit known that I, HERBERT R. KEITHLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in a Combined Rail Joint and Bond, of which the following is a specification. l

Thevobject of my present invention is to combine a bonding-plate with the forged railjoint described and claimed in my application for patent tiled October 6, 1897, Serial No. 654,206.

To this end my invention consists of the construction and the combination of parts, as hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of this specication.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis an end viewof a combined rail joint and bond constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective viewillustrating the man ner in which the parts are positioned on the meeting ends of two rails preparatory to forming a combined rail joint and bond according to my invention, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a completed rail joint and bond.

In nearly all railways where electricity is used as a motive power the rails are bonded or electrically connected together to form conductors for the currents.

In view of the fact that electricity is being widely introduced as a motive power, in some instances replacing steam, it has now become the custom to bond or 'electrically connect track-rails, even in constructing railways which are designed to employ steam as a motive power.

Bonds or electrical connections for trackrails have usually been adj ustedbr secured in place .independently of the fish-plates or angle-plates used to form the rail-joints, and in all constructions with which I am familiar the conductivity of the bonded joint depends in the care which is exercised in cleaning the parts which form the bond before they are secured in position and in the perfectness of contact secured between the metal (ordinarily copper) which forms the bond and the steel rails.

The especial object of my present invention is, therefore, to provide a combined railjoint ably heated to a high temperature, placed on the meeting ends of two rails, and then is forged by a press (preferably a hydraulic press) to encircle the meeting ends of two rails, the press being kept under high pressure on the blank-say from one hundred to three hundred tonsuntil the blank cools. This will force the joining-piece into permanent contact with the meeting ends of two rails, so that the same when in place will tend to bite and grip the rails.

' To form a combined rail joint and bond, I propose tointerpose a bonding-plate of cop- 1 per or other .metal of high conductivity between Athe, rails and the joining-piece and to utilize the heavy pressure employed in forging the joining-piece onto the meeting ends of the two rails, so as to form an absolutely perfect contact between the bonding-plate ,and the rails and also between the joiningpiece and the bonding-plate.

Referring to the drawings and in detail, A and B designate two meeting rails.

C designates the j oining-piece, which is formed or forged from a U-shaped blank D,

Y .(shown in Fig. 2,) and E designates the bonding-plate.

In practice I preferably employ copper for the bonding-plate, and the bonding-plate is made of sufficient cross-section or thickness to have its conductivity equal to at least the conductivity of a rail-section.`

In assembling and securing a combined rail joint and bond in position according to my invention the bonding-plate is preferably wrapped or bent around the base-sections of the ends of two meeting rails. The blank for forming the j oining-piece is then preferably heated to a high temperature and is placed IOO in position on the joint outside of the bonding-plate. The blank is then forged by a hydraulic or other press or by drop-forging to encircle the ends of the meeting rails. rIlien when the joint is thus formed the ordinary bolts c may be applied through the joiningpiece and held in place by nuts in the ordinary manner.

Instead of employing a bonding-plate which is bent around to inelose simply the bases of the ends of the meeting rails it is obvious that the same may inclose more or less of the cross-sections of the rails or may simply consist ol a flat section or plate.

I do not wish, therefore, to be in any way limited to the relative proportions which I have shown and described; but

That I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

I. A combined rail joint and bond, comprising a single metallic piece forged around the meeting ends of two rails, and a bondingplate interposed between the rails and joining-piece, substantially as described.

2. A combined rail joint and bond comprising a single metallic piece forged around the meeting ends of two rails, and a bondingplate bent around the bases of the meeting rails and interposed between the rails of joining-pieces, substantially as described.

A rail-joint comprisinga single metallic piece, the sides of which are hot-forged into permanent contact with the meeting ends of two rails, and a bonding-plate bent around the bases of the meeting rails and interposed between the rails and joining-piece, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

HERBERT R. KEITIILEY.

\Vitnesses:

LoUIs XV. SOUTHGATE, PHILIP W. SOUTHGATE. 

